I only
include the latter as a comparison, to show how wandering down your own
understanding of images and symbols can bring you to a similar meaning, though
along a different path with different experiences. This is to help expand
knowledge of the card.

I will not, however, be including the definitions
from the guidebook, as that is not the point of this. Also, I don’t have rights
to that material.

Important Note

I started
this series because I had read that people struggled with the deck purely
because the definitions in the Little White Book were very Rider-Waite-based, and that there wasn’t much wisdom regarding the
animals and symbolism chosen.

This series
is to help you to decipher the meanings yourselves. I am by no means saying
what I have to say about the cards are correct for anyone outside myself.
However, I am providing my daily journal entries regarding the deck to act as a
guide so that you can begin your own journey.

When I
started tarot, I had no idea what to write in my journal, and thus didn’t.
Instead I obsessively read and re-read the Little White Book belonging to the Spiral Tarot (which is why today I can
completely quote the book). I didn’t trust myself to know the cards, even when I could recite the definitions. I was
afraid to put the book down.

To this
fear of lack of knowledge, the creator of The
Wild Unknown writes:

You do know enough. You’ve been a person on earth every day since you were born. You’ve experienced all the emotions and situations these cards depict. Quiet the naysayer…don’t let it prevent you from sitting down with a friend (or yourself) and using these cards to help talk about what’s going on in your life. It will be positive. It will be radical. You’ll find things start to reveal themselves through the cards that have been hidden away, covered with dust.

pp. 10-11, The Wild Unknown Guidebook

Description of the Card

The 5 of
Wands is simple, a depiction of five sticks thrown, perhaps in mid air. The
lines come off them as if indicating a motion. Or perhaps a shadow. The sticks and
lines follow no pattern, they’re just in motion—and yet there is seemingly an
order to the card.

The
depiction is very neat. A different set of lines comes off each stick, perhaps
indicating different energies or perspectives or intentions.

Traditional Card Meaning

The 5 of
Wands based on the Rider-Waite
tradition, shows a handful of youngsters, possibly young adults, or sometimes shows
children. Each figure has a Wand in hand, and they look as though they are
fighting. However, un closer inspection it’s easy to see that there’s no malice
in their faces, and that instead of actually fighting, they are playing.

This card
indicates pent up energy waiting to be directed, and calls for practice and
preparation for what’s to come.

What I derive from the
Card itself

The 5 of
Wands in The Wild Unknown shows order
and chaos, thus portraying an energy. While it seems as though perhaps these
wands are in mid-motion, they are still contained within the card. Each of the
corners is blackened, as if acting as a frame. This shows that these sticks are
not a clash in the wild, but a contained, possibly controlled lash. Thus, indicating
maybe letting off steam, or play-fighting, preparation for what’s to come.

This is a
difficult card to gain meaning from if you don’t already have a base-line of
knowledge. But I think that the indication is in the small details.

About the Deck

The Wild Unknown Tarot is a 2016 Harper One publication, created by Kim Krans. The deck is widely available at most bookstores who carry Tarot cards, but also on Amazon. Kim Krans always wrote The Wild Unknown Guidebook.

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